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Indeed, Georgetown may have the "Social Safeway," but Prince George's has what many have dubbed "Club Wegmans." Singles hook up in front of bins of fresh produce; couples gather for dates in the grocery store's sit-down restaurant; and shoppers sway to music from overhead speakers, singing along with Prince, Luther Vandross and Teena Marie.

"[One] Saturday night, I saw a couple hand-dancing to a Rafael Saadiq song," said Ayana Douglas, the store manager, who plays R&B and smooth jazz on the store's sound system. "The couple was getting their boogie on."

Douglas brought in a live jazz band during the store's grand opening in October. After getting requests for more live music, she has decided to occasionally bring bands in on Friday nights.

"This is not your average supermarket," Kelly Webster of Upper Marlboro said one Friday night.

Webster, who has been in a relationship with his girlfriend, Andi Austin, for four years, said he has watched men approach women at Wegmans. "This is the new spot."

Austin, also of Upper Marlboro, smiled at what her boyfriend had to say. "Men will meet [a woman] anywhere," she said. "Especially when you don't have to spend any money."

Fireplaces and TVs

In the competitive grocery industry, today's stores have expanded far beyond being places where people run in for a quick gallon of milk or to fill the weekly shopping list. In some ways, they have come full circle to the general stores of old: They're community gathering spaces that enlarge the idea of one-stop shopping.